This might just be one of the most addicting video games I've ever played. I picked this game up to keep myself busy while waiting for something else to release in a few days, and honestly if that game didn't come out I would have really spiraled deep into Balatro. I don't think I've experienced such a passing of time since reading my favorite stories, or binge watching my favorite shows for the first time. I would start a round at a reasonable 7pm and suddenly it was 1am on a work night.

I'm still wrapping up some other soloplayer content right now but I hope to return to this funny deckbuilding roguelike very soon after. Hopefully I'll approach it in a healthier way, because dear god. Guess that scary realism should really be a testament to how good it is though.

I cannot however give it a perfect score, as much as the gameplay loop definitely deserves it and the accessibility aspect of it also does, I just feel there are a couple things this game is still missing to give it more visual replayability. Along with that, I also believe this game suffers from its soundtrack and sound effects. Most if not everyone will be muting either just the music, or the entire game very shortly into their experience with it. But gameplay loop wise, excellent. Awesome job, and I really have no issue just listening to my own music while I play it so at the end I really do not care.

I've been on and off with this game for a number of years and after my most recent binging of it, I get it. Before the game was a 8/10 for me, but only after getting into this last run do I get it. Games a 10. Let me explain this last few days.

I've been playing with friends in call, and they've seen the terrible stuff and the blessings, and there was a point during day 3 where I lost 7 our of 10 of my colony in two hours, from back to back events. Everyone was saying RIP run, and it was super demoralizing but I stuck with it. Then, an hour or so later the remaining 3 were down from an spider that began hunting one of my colonists out of base to mine steel.

Enter scene, the mysterious stranger. He came in and killed the enemy, and succeeded in bringer all three downed colonists back inside, however, one died before they could be brought back. I was down to one of my original colonists, someone I picked up along the way, and the mysterious man. HOWEVER, I don't even think 2 days in game passed when the mysterious man insulted one of my colonists, and faster than I could react he was punched and died before I could even bring him to a hospital bed. Down to two colonists. At this point, again, my friends say RIP run, start over. A part of me wanted to, but there has been so much that'd happened and me and that one original colonist had come so far, so I powered through. I clawed back from hell, I built defenses, I prepared, I captured as many wild people, enemy soldiers, and animal allies as I could, and where am I now?

On the space side of the tech tree, an extremely defensible base of operations, and 10 colonists that all tolerate one another. I'm still struggling now and then, especially when the larger raids happen, but the struggle makes it more exciting. This game is all about the struggle, about the risks and overcoming them. This game is about climbing through hell, dragging yourself from total despair, and overcoming all odds and succeeding. I actually love this game, it's a 10/10. To explain all the drama and story that happened in about 20 hours of playtime would take pages of writing, and that's awesome.

This game is inspired. An absolute must for those who enjoy metroidvanias. Heart pounding action with massive moments of fulfillment when getting through areas either stylishly or by the skin of your teeth. Along with just good mechanics, which again, absolutely inspired, the game has a fantastic soundtrack. At first I wasn't fully feeling it because when I think of a shooter with time slow mechanics and unique movement I think Katana Zero, and that game has an infamous soundtrack for what it was going for. I think this game does as well, I truly feel with the emotion it presents the soundtrack is perfect. As is the means of unlocking the soundtrack.

As for the story, it's very good. I found myself doing every side quest, as well. Each character is unique and interesting, and while all the side quests are just fetch quests, they're not hard or unenjoyable as the main thing about this game is the movement and the way you get around continues to change as you acquire new weapons and abilities. The main story is very touching, it's a great mother daughter tale, and coming of age story in a very unique way. 10/10, a must play.

This game is a 9.75 out of 10, so I'm rounding up. I have very few complaints, and a great many comments to make. I'll start with the obvious, that being why this game is not for everyone: It's hard.

This game can be dreadfully difficult, in fact the second to last boss had me audibly say "This is demoralizing" and shortly after I saw a friend who was also playing say the exact same thing. Soulsborne games, and games of that style, are famous for their punishingly difficult segments and this game is no different. If your idea of a good time isn't throwing yourself against the same boss for an hour to multiple hours, then maybe this is not the game for you.

I for one think this game is exceptional in its combat. You've probably seen people compare this to Bloodborne, or Sekiro, and that's a fair comparison, but honestly it takes some of the best combat aspects from those games and melds them into a very fun and interactive combat. You have all the tools you need at all times to fight and win against any enemy. Your weapon feel to slow? Give it a different and faster move-set by changing its handle. Enemy feels like it has too much HP? Use status damage it's weak against. On top of this, their is no multiplayer but many boss fights allow you to summon a "spirit" which will aid you, and they're very effective.

Would I maybe have liked some of the upgrade tree just being base game abilities? Sure. Would I feel better if Decay wasn't such a pain in the butt status effect? Absolutely. These couple issues and a few interesting enemy designs I think this game could tweak, or do without, but all things considered this is a phenomenal experience for those who love the Soulsborne genre.

For example, my top 3 soulsborne games have always been from FromSoft, but now? Elden Ring is 1st, Lies of P is 2nd, and Dark Souls III is 3rd. Lies of P is just that good. I feel like this game is being mad slept on.

Lastly, I want to touch up on the story. No spoilers, but this game is very linear, to the point where if you have sidequests active with NPCs, the teleport hub will have icons of the NPCs on where they are if they have something new going on, so you know to go there and continue said quest. This feels fine for a game like this, because there are also so many options still. This being the lying system, which gives you a huge sense of individuality.

The games story may also feel generic on the surface, but after going through paragraphs of notes and many different dialogue trees I can say this story is great. To the point where it had me using gestures like a goofball to react to NPCs, and even tearing up at times, and of course, cheering at my screen at the end eager to see what's next.

I hope people who are a fan of this genre give this game a try, and I hope those not familiar with the genre can find enjoyment as well. I also hope those who don't like souls games can understand this is, at the end of the day, a souls-like, and if they don't like those games they should probably avoid this. I feel like a majority if not all people rating this game poorly are those who typically don't play these sorts of games, and that feels unfortunate.

Anyway, I hope those who haven't played this game but are considering it enjoy, and for those of you on the fence, it's on Gamespass so why're you waiting???